Conservative Anglican leaders in the US today urged the Archbishop of Canterbury to intervene after the church elected its first openly gay bishop.

Canon Gene Robinson, who has lived with his male partner for 13 years, was confirmed as the next Bishop of New Hampshire by members of the Episcopalian House of Bishops, hours after he was cleared of sexual misconduct accusations.

The selection threatens to split the Anglican Communion's 80 million members worldwide, who are presided over by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

Bishop Robert Duncan, of Pittsburgh, who spoke for those opposed to the appointment, said he felt a "grief too deep for words" at the vote.

He called on Dr Williams and the primates of the world-wide Anglican Communion, to "intervene in the pastoral emergency that has overtaken us".

But Middlesbrough's Labour MP Stuart Bell, a Church of England commissioner who represents the church in the Commons, called for calm in discussing the issue and said it was not a matter of "right or wrong".

Instead the Church of England had to continue its "rational and patient" debate on how both sides of the argument could exist side by side.

"There is a document coming out before Christmas on human sexuality which sets a framework for the debate," he said.

The US was "ahead of the game", he said, and pointed out the choice had been made freely "by all sections of the Church".

Dr Williams said today it was too soon to know what the impact of the vote would be on the Church. In a statement he said he hoped "that the Church in America and the rest of the Anglican Communion will have the opportunity to consider this development before significant and irrevocable decisions are made in response".